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F.C.C. Nominee Favors Competition Over Regulation

“Competition is a power unto itself that must be encouraged,” Tom Wheeler told a Senate committee on Tuesday.Credit
Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission told a Senate committee on Tuesday that his top priorities, if he is confirmed, would be consumer protection, increasing competition and providing sufficient predictability so companies know what rulings to expect.

The nominee, Tom Wheeler, told the Senate Commerce Committee that the F.C.C.’s support of competition was especially important given Americans’ heavy dependence on communications networks in education, public safety and consumer services.

He said that his experience as a telecommunications executive and as the leader of lobbying groups for the cable television and cellphone industries had convinced him that the agency needs to promote competition over regulation.

“Competition is a power unto itself that must be encouraged,” he said. “Competitive markets produce better outcomes than regulated or uncompetitive markets.”

Mr. Wheeler backed away, however, from his comments in 2011 on his blog. In the post, he said the F.C.C. might have expanded its authority over wireless companies if it had approved the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile by imposing conditions that could later be applied to all wireless companies.

In response to questions, Mr. Wheeler said that any merger review must consider the facts before the commission and not deal with theoretical questions of the sort he raised in the blog post.

“In a hypothetical musing, it is possible to do that,” Mr. Wheeler said. But in a merger review, he added, “I am guided by precedent, the statute and the facts before me.”

Most of the other questions posed to Mr. Wheeler were friendly, and several Republican senators expressed confidence that he would be confirmed by inviting him to visit their states once he took office.

Mr. Wheeler also said that his experience as a lobbyist would not prejudice him in regulating the industries he formerly championed. “I was an advocate for specific points of view, and I hope I was a pretty good advocate,” Mr. Wheeler said. “If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, my client will be the American public, and I hope I can be as effective an advocate for them as humanly possible.”

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Nevertheless, Mr. Wheeler also said it was his experience in the wireless and cable industries — which, he acknowledged, are much changed today from when he worked for them — rather than as a regulator that provides his primary strengths.

As chief executive of what is now the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in the 1980s, “I fought against the F.C.C.’s rules limiting cable’s ability to compete with new video services,” Mr. Wheeler said. “I worked for the ability of competitors to bring services into the home.”

Similarly, Mr. Wheeler said that his tenure in the 1990s as head of the cellular phone trade group now known as CTIA-The Wireless Association, was one in which start-up and rapidly growing cellphone competitors were at the forefront of wholesale changes in communications.

“During my tenure, that competition was expanded by the auctions of 1994, wireless was increasingly used in place of wire line, and wireless data turned the phone into a pocket computer,” Mr. Wheeler said.

“All of these developments brought with them new policy challenges,” he added, challenges that are no smaller now as wireless becomes the primary method of broadband and voice communication for millions of Americans.

Mr. Wheeler also promised to look into the favorite topics of most of the lawmakers on the committee. Those topics include continuing the E-Rate program, which provides subsidies for broadband connections at schools and libraries; raising revenue from the spectrum incentive auctions to help finance a public service communications network; and figuring out how to address consumer frustration over disputes between broadcasters and cable providers that often leave cable subscribers with blackouts of certain channels.

Mr. Wheeler also addressed television decency standards, something that the F.C.C. has wrestled with for decades. He said the bully pulpit might have more influence than any regulations the agency could write.

“I do believe it is possible to call upon our better angels with some leadership,” Mr. Wheeler said. He recalled that the “vast wasteland” speech of Newton N. Minow, the former F.C.C. chairman, “caught people’s attention.” He added: “Maybe it’s time to do the same type of thing today.”

A version of this article appears in print on June 19, 2013, on Page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: F.C.C. Nominee Favors Competition Over Regulation. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe